Batman: Arkham City hits OnLive and breaks records

Recently we was forwarded a press release telling us that this year’s Batman game, Arkham City, was now available on OnLive. Like most OnLive releases you are allowed to demo the game free of charge for up to 30 minutes before deciding whether or not to buy it, well it looks like a lot of gamers took advantage of this offer.

According to OnLive, Batman: Arkham City has set records in both the US and UK for most demos played in a single day. This shows us that OnLive’s instant streaming service is really beginning to become popular, we just wonder how many demos played led to sales. Here’s what OnLive Founder and CEO, Steve Perlman, had to say about the impressive demo launch:

“The record-shattering performance of the Batman: Arkham City demo shows that gamers recognize the immense advantages of playing free trials on the OnLive platform, OnLive makes the ‘try-before-you-buy’ experience effortless, and it’s quickly becoming gamers’ go-to destination for instant-play demos and early exclusives”

We have to agree with Steve in regards to OnLive’s instant streaming of demos being effortless in comparison to rival solutions, let’s face it we have all at one point or another had to wait ages for a demo download to complete only to play it and be totally unimpressed. Perhaps Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo could learn a little from OnLive – what do you think? What we like the most is that you can progress in a game whilst playing the 30 minute free demo and then carry on from where you left off when you purchase the game.

The full game costs $49.99 / £34.99 in the U.S. and UK respectively, however if you just want to play it for a few days you can also just rent the game for 3 days ($5.99) or 5 days ($8.99). Currently U.S. consumers can get the full game, however UK gamers are restricted to the demo until November 25.

UK gamers can check out Arkham City on OnLive here, whilst US gamers should check out this link.